#i'm not someone who takes a lot of screenshots so i had to boot up the game and try to find saves nearish to cutscenes for these 😅

[zorlok-if]

what does dorian look like? 👀

In response to this ask.

A beautiful, beautiful man.

(if you think he resembles another video game character... you're not wrong)

And so you know exactly what he's up to... [minor spoiler below]

#he's my sparking sparkly stormy boy #with wit as sharp as his blade and will as strong as his armor #and that 17 int is only cause of the circlet #you know there's an 8 hiding under that lovely diadem #i'm not someone who takes a lot of screenshots so i had to boot up the game and try to find saves nearish to cutscenes for these 😅 #thanks for the ask! #asks #bg3 #albie's corner #custom tav #tav #oc

[captainsteveamericarogers]

Why are you so quiet? Everyone has gone insane and making up new facts every five minutes, you're usually the first one to lose your patience and lay it down. You're obviously on Chris' side yet you're letting people talk shit about him. You need to say something!!

I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted. You talk as if I'm some matriarch of the fandom when in fact I'm just a mediocre fanfic writer who is exhausted with this whole debacle and it's barely been two weeks. Nobody listens to me!

Today I saw a magnificent example of both Chinese whispers and alternative facts in this fandom. The person who alleged that CE was at her work for medical imaging, who I suspect was also the author of the now-deleted Reddit post, only tweeted that she had found out he was at her work. I appreciate that many people deleted the screenshots of the tweet as it was a gross invasion of his privacy and a HIPAA violation that, if true, would have very serious consequences for both the tweeter and her employer, and that a lot of people didn't see it. But suddenly people were talking about an actual x-ray or MRI image that had been posted and deleted. There was never an image. That didn't stop a few people from saying they knew someone who had seen it, which adds credence to the rumour despite being a lie due to there never being an image.

A lie can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on - The Truth by Terry Pratchett

We are seeing this in action every single day since the People article. I've seen people make the most outlandish claims. Suddenly, everyone has a friend who knows his flight details or what he ate for dinner. It's utterly demented. It's beyond crazy.

Let's go through all of the utter horse shit I can recall from the past fortnight. Shall we have more bullet points?

It's all PR

They have a contract for two years (how could anyone possibly know this?)

Chris obviously cannot stand Alba anywhere near him

The girl in the park who was forced to delete her Twitter was in on it and planted there to record

Chris has been personally seeking out Tumblrinas to block on Twitter

Narrative PR wrote the deranged fan letters to make the fandom "look crazy" (lol) and garner sympathy for Chris

Literally anyone who sticks up for Chris or Alba is, in fact, Chris or Alba or their moms

Alba wore a halter to WDW to show off her tattoo and be recognised (Really? Who on earth is going to recognise her?)

She only flew into FL to record the video and then left immediately (y'all really don't like them spending time together, huh?)

They are reading every single post every single gossip blog writes and using the comments to make their fake PR relationship more convincing

There's more but this is so exhausting. If you take one thing from this post, let it be this. Take EVERYTHING with a pinch of salt, no matter who posts it and how sure they seem. Sometimes people are right and sometimes they are wrong. This fandom has a nasty habit of voicing their opinions as facts, then others take that and run with it, like today with the medical imaging business.

The fact is, nobody cares whether or not you believe it. But you are devoting hours of your life, every single day, dissecting everything and going around and around in circles and it is not healthy. It is not healthy at all. Take some time off or at least talk about something else.

Someone asked what I personally think is happening with Chris and Alba, so I'll leave you with my thoughts. It's serious. They are in love. I think they'll probably get married sooner rather than later. The laser focused comment was an FYI, telling the fandom that he's going to be taking his foot off the gas and concentrating on his private life for the foreseeable future. Take it with a pinch of salt. 🤷🏽‍♀️

#chris evans #alba baptista #anon ask #fandom ish #yes #we're still on it

[shapa-likes-art]

since you still happily accept phantom au asks, i am happy to accommodate! >:D

So more questions:

1. Who proposes? And how do they do so?

2. Does Roman have some sort of secret lair he goes to to change into his Phantom outfits? To make his plans, etc?

3. How does he manage to get back to where he lives without just waltzing in as Phantom?

4. This one is more random but what kind of place does he have? I was honestly imagining a luxurious penthouse on top of the Kingdom Ent. building skdjakdj

5. What exactly is Kingdom Ent? Is it a technology company? Something else?

6. What would happen if Roman himself got kidnapped? Either as Roman Prince or the Phantom? Like from a different villain/a hero/ some competition? Would Virgil attempt to save him somehow?

7. Does Roman have any enemies/specific people he targets? It's established that it takes him weeks to months to form his plans right? What would make someone a target?

8. how is roman so pretty in your arts, virgil is a hell of a lucky mf ❤️😭

sorry for all the questions dnfjsndh you don't have to answer them all!

A A A A AA A A

bruh ilysm rn /p

I had to ask @thunderholtz (co-creator) to discuss some stuff haha

Since this will be LONG long, I'm gonna do a readmore :D.

1. I discussed this with skye and they gave I to share screenshots!

**affection lol.

2. He absolutely does! It's main entrance is his office and it's activated by finger print, hidden in his "bookshelf". It leads down to a basement where Roman has his "lair". After he and Virhil have been dating a while, he inputs their finger prints as well <3

3. Because he has nanobots that he releases that disables each and every nearest camera or CCTV. He has modified boots that let's him walk on walls and also go really fast. And he travels in shadows- oh. And in his mansion, He lives completely alone, no maids or butlers or anything. He only hires them on an off day where he has no phantom engagements planned. He can easily walk in, call back his nanobots, then go to his lair and change and let his clothes soak so there won't be bloodstains.

4. He would have a penthouse but, honestly, He lives in a small mansion disconnected from the majority of Cardenia, he's surrounded by trees and it's quite a drive to get there. Roman loves it because there's fresh air and there would be no one watching him at all. He can carry out his plans and experiments without any problems.

5. Kingdom ent. Is something like Sony: It dabbles in a lot of things. It started off as a tech company but as they grew, they started to branch out into other ways of making profit and money so they're also a media company. They make tech and movies and have a news outlet.

6. Virgil knows Roman can save himself and Roman is crafty as shit and knows how to get out of any situation regardless of if he has his tech or not. Don't underestimate the supervillain, my dear. He does not lose or let his opponent win. He is no weak lamb.

7. In personal life detached from his Phantom work? His father HAHAHA- but seriously, all of his targets are the corrupt people in charge of companies like fellow CEOs, executives, etc.. He also targets Corrupt politicians as well. His aim is to eliminate the Corruption in Cardenia and to make sure it never happens, he kills the source straight up. He would give a warning and if they fail to change before then, He kills.

8. Because I love drawing pretty boys <3. And trust me, Virgil thinks the exact same but Roman thinks He's even luckier.

Thank you for your questions !!!

#sanders sides #Prinxiety #Supervillain au #Supervillain!Roman #Journalist!Virgil #roman sanders #virgil sanders #Violence mention #Long post

[mareastrorum]

i thought matt said essek's goal was to ingratiate himself to guide the nein away from the truth of his crime, not to kill them?

Correct! He did! I also realize looking back at my post that I didn't quite elaborate on something--mostly because I did not realize just how many people would read it. I'll take this chance to clarify a few things.

First, context. A short while ago, a post cycled a few times through my mutual group, many of whom are Essek fans/lovers/haters for various reasons, before I added in some sauce. For those who don't want to click, here's a screenshot:

Then I received an ask noting that they didn't think it was proven that Essek had given the Scourger a shiv:

Then I received another ask, which was the long post about why I thought Essek would have wanted to give the Scourger a shiv:

Which led to a bunch of other asks because, despite main tagging the characters, I didn't actually expect anyone to pay any mind to the post. I don't usually do meta posts, so I didn't anticipate all these responses. That's how we wound up here.

All that said, because my focus was on making a persuasive case for why murder was one of the options available to Essek and therefore why he had motive to ensure the Scourger had a shiv available to attack Caleb, I did not do the best job at emphasizing that murder was one of the options available. I don't think killing the Nein was the only option, the first option, or even the favored option. I think it was one of many and the Scourger just happened to be convenient.

So time to finesse. Next, yes, Matt absolutely chimed in on Essek's motivations of getting to know the Nein in the Campaign 2 Wrap-Up:

Marisha: Well, I'm curious, because-- and you've kind of loosely touched on this before-- that Essek was kind of supposed to be a bad guy, and then we made friends with him, and his heart grew three sizes that day? Matt: Yeah, you totally Grinched that motherfucker. ... Marisha: What was his plan? Matt: Essek-- Essek was designed not to be a major antagonist but an antagonistic force in the world. You guys kind of barged into the Kryn Dynasty and gave this extremely sought-after, thought-lost artifact that is intrinsic to their entire culture and religion. And as soon as you did that, Essek was like, "Well, first off, I know how they got that beacon, and I'm attached to this. I'm the one that smuggled it out, so I need to get in real close with these people and keep an eye on everything they do, because they're now the biggest loose end on my guarded person." You know, like-- like-- you know, if-- it's like committing murder and someone walks in and is like, "I found a boot in your yard," and he's like, "Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck!" You guys brought this in, and he was like, "I have to get to know them well." He immediately was like, "I'll take care of them. I'll work with their business. I'll figure out what they're going, and I'll be their-- their--" you know-- Laura: Liaison. Matt: Chaperone, essentially. And so it was him just trying to cover his ass while also trying to figure out what you were up to, what your connections were, how much you knew. And then the more he got to know you guys-- because his whole goal was just to keep this thing going with the Dynasty. He was fed up with a lot of the political structure of the Dynasty, or-- come to think of it, sorry, with the-- with the Assembly. He was fed up with a lot of the Dynasty's zealotry and he doesn't really have any formal interest in the Luxon, and he thinks that it's misguided. He thinks that there's a lack of interest in seeing what Dunamancy can actually do because everything is regimented instead by the cultural history of it, and he just wants to advance to see what is possible, and he found partnership in the Assembly in that way. But you guys kept, like, inviting him over for dinner, and asking about his-- Liam: We really scrambled his eggs. Matt: Yeah! Liam: For real, when we left him, I was like, "Well, I really hope that-- I see things that I have in common with him and I empathize, but he's going to need years to unpack his shit, or he's not, or he's just going to bend back and do all the things he was doing before without us." And then the time we met up with him again, he was a changed man. Matt: Yeah. Well, he was still struggling. He didn't know who he was, and at a certain point, your guys' interaction kind of showed him that he could be better, and he was struggling with the-- with being convinced that it was too late for him. And so it was this idea of like, "I've already fucked up my entire life, and I didn't realize it until I found people that actually cared to look past my position and my abilities." And he'd been a solitary figure his whole life except for his relationship with his brother. He didn't get along with his parents. He didn't get along with most people in the Dynasty unless they helped him maintain and advance his position of power and influence, and so you guys fucked him up. ... ... a large part of his early times was just trying to deflect and misdirect and like, "Don't look at me. I'm just here. Just here paying attention. I got nothing to do with any of this. That's weird, huh?" Then the more you got to know him, he eventually let that fall away. Yeah, I was not expecting any of that.

That's all the stuff from the wrap up specifically on Essek's intentions with the Nein. (I trimmed a bit about consecution since it's not directly relevant to this topic.) Note that, among all the things Matt said, he didn't write off any particular option that would have been available to Essek, but at the first interaction, he knew he needed to keep the Nein close. However, close doesn't necessarily mean friendship, and considering his position, experience, and cold attitude, Essek probably intended to foster a more formal and politically-minded relationship from the start.

Rather than restate everything from my earlier post that I should have finessed, the part that I really should have fleshed out was this:

Regardless of which situation this is, the best outcome for Essek would be neutralizing the interlopers before they come upon, intentionally or not, his involvement in the theft of the beacons.

By neutralizing, I meant specifically making sure that the Nein were no longer a threat, not necessarily killing them. That could have been sabotaging their status as Heroes of the Dynasty, distracting them, getting them out of the Dynasty permanently, setting up a scapegoat, or any other option of ensuring that these specific people--who somehow obtained a beacon he stole and returned it--would not further jeopardize his situation.

Still, the rest of my post focused on why and how killing them--specifically, setting up the Scourger to attempt to kill Caleb--would have been possible and even likely because the history of the posts I had been responding to were questions about why and how I thought he would. Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up that I failed to notice some (though not all) of my language dipped into sounding like I thought that was his plan all along.

No! I thought that was one of many potential moves Essek was arranging as an attempt to keep the Nein off his trail without losing control of their presence in the Dynasty. As their liaison, they went to him for help and advice even though they clearly didn't trust him. He had a position of power over them and used it well. He racked up favors so he'd have some leverage to pressure them if he so chose. He directed them to Waccoh, who had nothing to do with the beacons and would certainly request things of them that would help the war effort because her job was designing war machines. He encouraged them to investigate the Angel of Irons because that wasn't related to the Beacons either. Neither was their quest to the forge in Caduceus' s dream in the Flotket Alps nor the trip to Mythburrow.

You want to risk traveling to Bazzoxan and didn't even ask me to teleport you to save time or avoid risk? EXCELLENT, have fun on the death trip, make me proud! You want to go investigate a volcano in bum fuck elsewhere? EXCELLENT, have fun maybe freezing or burning to death. You want to find a dragon? EXCELLENT, have fun maybe getting eaten and/or frozen. You want to talk to the Scourger that hates you? EXCELLENT, gimme some time, I need to get that bitch a shank.

I'm sure that every time the Nein went off on a dangerous mission that had nothing to do with the beacons, Essek was relieved and hoped that some of them would die along the way. It was a temporary distraction and hopefully a permanent solution.

And it wasn't until episode 77, right before Essek escorted the Nein to see the Scourger again, that Essek told the Nein that the Bright Queen wants them to find the other beacon in the Empire. Whether you agree with me or not that Essek arranged for the Scourger to have the shiv, at that point, the risk the Nein posed to Essek had risen greatly when she made that decision. That mission inherently carried risk that they would learn about what he had done because it necessitated investigating the Cerberus Assembly. Time and time again, they had demonstrated their skills by doing all these missions in the Dynasty. We don't know exactly when the Bright Queen told Essek her wish, but considering the timing, it wouldn't surprise me if that was one of the reasons that Essek shifted from hands-off options to setting up a potential assassination.

All that is to say that I don't interpret Matt's exposition in the Wrap-Up as Essek wanting to be friends with the Nein. I interpret it as attempting to keep them from fucking him up, and as much as Essek makes a turn around in Eiselcross, he got the title of Shadowhand and the Bright Queen's trust for a reason. He was evil for a reason. And that would include the willingness to risk someone else's life for his own sake.

#my asks #essek thelyss

[thefirstknife]

Ah shit, here we go again.

O14 is unhealthy and abusive discourse...... 2! (screenshot)

I clicked this post because I wondered why it's in the Destiny 2 tag and unfortunately we're back to "o14 is unhealthy and abusive" discourse. Short answer: No. Long answer:

"However, one can’t help but wonder how Saint-14 never noticed Osiris being even the slightest bit wrong."

He did. Play of Shadow and Light:

Saint nods, then folds his hands in his lap. "You know Osiris," he says with a hint of a good-natured jab in his tone. "Private, even among friends. Cloistered." Ikora remains silent, but lays a reassuring hand on Saint's arm. "But… he has changed." Saint's shoulders slacken. "Ever since the Young Wolf dragged him off the moon, it feels like a part of him stayed there." Saint shakes his head. "He is both obsessed and empty."

And:

"This isn't easy to ask, but you know Osiris better than anyone." He already knows the question by the palpable concern in Ikora's eyes. "Is… Osiris a danger to himself?" Saint looks away. He can't bear to see that look in her eyes. He can barely give her his honest answer. "I do not know." Because it hurts too much.

In Memoriam Shell:

"What is it?" Osiris asked as he drew closer. "Did something happen?" "No," Saint responded quickly. Too quickly. "Well, yes… A small something. Under control, but…" He was stumbling, unsure how to explain himself. "I sent a message. You didn't get it?" Osiris frowned, impatient. "I've received a lot of messages lately. Was it urgent?" Saint flinched. He didn't know it had to be urgent.

And:

"Ah. You want me to take over the Trials." Osiris shrugged. "It's not a good time. Shut them down if you're tired of it." "What? No!" Saint hadn't expected this. "Not tired. I am worried! There have been—" He stopped, suddenly aware of the passersby. He gestured for Osiris to follow him into his ship. Osiris crossed his arms. "I'm keeping Lord Saladin waiting. The issue of the Cabal is somewhat urgent. As you can see."

And:

Saint stared at him. Inside, the wire tightened one more impossible inch. At last, he said, "It varies."

And:

Saint watched as Osiris disappeared into the throng. The tension in him was gone. All he felt now was the agonizing wound left by the wire's snap. Ikora's words from not so long ago echoed in the back of his mind: "…You know Osiris better than anyone else." Not true. Saint knew him well, but not better than Sagira. And without her around… He wasn't sure he knew Osiris at all.

Boots of the Assembler:

Saint-14 was doing munitions inventory when Osiris swept into the room. Saint put down his datapad next to a crate of grenades and stood up. Osiris scanned the shelves of guns and ammo, looking for something. Saint stood dumbly, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement. When it was clear that none was forthcoming, he called out, "Osiris. What are you looking for?" His voice was loud and strained.

And:

"That seems fine," Osiris said. He shrugged a shoulder. "Provided the City doesn't burn to the ground in our absence." Then after a beat: "Is that all?" Is that all? Behind his helmet, Saint frowned. "I suppose." Osiris strode from the room, leaving Saint alone with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Saint very obviously knew something was wrong. The problem is that Savathun's plan was so outrageously unbeliveable that it was impossible to guess what's going on just because someone is "acting wrong." He even tried figuring it out by asking questions and observing "Osiris," but Savathun was deliberately avoiding him and causing scenes to prevent Saint from cracking the case. What's more likely: 1. Your partner lost his Ghost and returned from a traumatic experience in absolute despair and grief 2. A Hive god kidnapped your partner and shapeshifted into him and you're not talking to your partner at all, you're talking to Savathun Even the players, who have more information, didn't fully catch onto it and we had to fight in the trenches to explain the theory to the fandom that was harassing and insulting us. Saint, one person alone who didn't have all information and all details from everyone Savathun!Osiris talked to, couldn't have figured the scheme out. He could only notice that Osiris is not acting right. Which he did. And what was he supposed to do? If Osiris is acting wrong because he's grieving and Saint lashes out, he will be a shitty partner. Which is what happened in the Hangar Argument (TM) where Saint briefly lost his cool and tried to confront Osiris directly and it ended up in an argument and the entire fandom calling Osiris an abusive asshole partner who doesn't deserve Saint.

"I understand he’s a Titan and they don’t have a reputation for being smart..."

Please stop perpetuating this entirely made up fanon interpretation of Titans. Titans ARE smart. It's not an accident that throughout the post-Collapse history, Titans were the leaders, commanders, protectors and rebuilders of civilisation. Titans created what we today know as "Guardians" and are responsible for leading and protecting humanity. Calling them stupid is not a funny joke, especially since the fandom tends to correlate the in-game class and real people playing that class, leading to insulting, harassing and abusing people who main Titans. And while some individual Titans (and Warlocks and Hunters) can be not really bright, this specific Titan, Saint-14, is not dumb.

"...but did they never talk to each other at all during the time Osiris spent in the city?"

As demonstrated above, they talked. They also talked prior to Savathun's kidnapping of Osiris. They talked more than we know about.

"Yes this argument is lost if Savathun was only partially in control of Osiris..."

Gonna stop this right here. Savathun was not in control of Osiris. She SHAPESHIFTED into him. The Osiris existing among us from seasons Hunt to Lost WAS Savathun. That was Savathun in person, personally, it was her. Osiris was trapped somewhere in an unknown location. Osiris was seeing through Savathun's eyes because he was marked with a Hive rune that connected the two of them so Savathun was able to sift through his memories and knowledge (though not perfectly) and Osiris was able to see glimpses of what she was doing. This was explicitly explained in Season of the Lost after the Exorcism. Savathun was impersonating Osiris the entire time. Real Osiris was not in the City and was therefore not able to warn anyone about anything.

"Leading one to belive that Osiris and Saint lack criteria one; communication skills, as well as 3; understanding your partner."

Therefore, no. A compilation post I've made that goes into excruciating details about Osiris, Saint, their relationship, evidence for Savathun!Osiris theory and explanations after the theory was confirmed. Literally everything anyone needs to know is linked in this compilation and more things are linked in the links, all backed by actual lore. Personally I've found out that reading lore helps with these sorts of things. It isn't a matter of opinions. I am factually correct and the person who wrote the post is factually wrong.

#destiny 2 #osiris #saint-14 #o14 #long post #i thought we were done with this crap oh my god #why are people so hellbent on proving that there's something wrong with o14 #what exactly is the issue here

[tvitr]

I honestly want to respect Balan Wonderworld for what it is, but I have not had time to sit down and read the whole book? I heard it had some flaws? Would love to hear everything!

Okay so disclaimer: This is all my personal opinion and I am neither a published author nor a professional literature critic, I'm just someone on the internet who got an A in her Creative Writing A-Level so I'm not really qualified to be offering an intimate breakdown 😅 However I can at least outline what I thought worked really well in the book, and what was handled better in the game!

SPOILERS AHEAD

BOOK PROS:

The book contains a lot of much-needed lore regarding Lance and Balan, what the theatre is and where it came from, what Tims and Negati are for, how the Inhabitants became "trapped" in the theatre, and also confirms that the bosses are essentially manifestations of each Inhabitant's problems, which is something I think wasn't very clear in the game.

It has some additional artwork!

Some of the Inhabitant's stories benefit greatly from having them talk about their problems rather than making us interpret what happened, and some of them are outright changed to suit the mood of the story.

However the changes only really benefit Eis' story in my opinion, the rest are either the same or made actively worse.

Or in the case of Iben's, both!

BOOK CONS:

Iben's story is just... so poorly written. I can't quite articulate what's wrong, but her dialogue is so robotic and inhuman, like her dialogue doesn't sound like something an adult human would say. It's hard to explain without straight up showing you what I think doesn't work, so I'll put a link to post where I discuss my issues with it featuring screenshots from the book here.

Sana's character is just. Completely butchered. I don't know what beef the writers of the book had with her character but they make her so damn unlikeable.

Haoyu is just a genderbent recolour of Fiona with a similar backstory and the hots for her to boot. I'm only bothered by this because I liked him in the game because I thought he was funny lol.

I've also decided I prefer Yuri as a lonely nerdy kid obsessed with all kinds of bugs rather than the caterpillar-babysitter the book turns her into.

Lucy is an obnoxious drama queen when her boss form is defeated which is funny but you also wanna tell her to grow the Hell up and face the real world like an adult.

Cass' story is still a mess.

I have more thoughts on the Inhabitant's here. Basically the book makes most of them way too ow-the-edgy for me to enjoy.

Emma is relegated to a background character who complains once about people thinking she's a spoilt rich brat because she lives in a house full of child slaves in maid outfits or some shit and never appears again.

I don't like the new nicknames they give the Inhabitant's, most of them are way too long and unwieldy.

The ending where they all meet up to greet Leo and Emma as they come out the theatre felt way too convenient, like really, all these people just happened to live in the same city this whole time?

I've also heard some people saying the spelling and grammar takes a nose dive towards the end, but I wasn't paying attention to that.

It's only available as an e-book, which is annoying because I'd love a physical copy even though I didn't really like it.

I GUESS I HAVE TO ADDRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM:

No I still don't have a proper stance on Cal's story, though if I'm honest I tend to lean more towards the game because it felt like it revolved around chess a lot more than the book story. The book story obviously has ties to chess too (ie, he was world champion, lost his position, his Elo decreased, he couldn't increase it no matter how much he tried etc), but it also felt like it hinged more on his dead wife than his dead career 😂

If you made it this far, thank you! You're a star 😂

#balan wonderworld #feel free to ask me more lol i love talking about this game

[zet-sway]

I went to school for industrial design - that’s a fancy name for ‘product design.’ It goes without saying I had to design a lot of stuff. After one year of school I was basically looking at everything through new eyes. I’m not trying to say “I see things other’s can’t” but we all view our world through the lens of our own experiences, and my experiences taught me that every time you see a Thing That Someone Made, everything about what you’re looking at has a story behind it.

I was going to write a short post but then a wall of text came out of my hands uhhhhh

If someone makes something, they have to consciously make decisions about it. A lot of times, especially in gaming, decisions are made based on time constraints, resources, and available technology. I know very very very little about what it takes to make a video game but I do know that all the assets have to be constructed in 3D and then an artist has to create a map for it, like an image that wraps around the 3D model. To the best of my knowledge, this has to be done for virtually every single 3D object on your screen, and while I’m sure assets are strategically re-used to create more fleshed out environments, this shit takes a lot of work.

I’ve just spend the last 30 minutes walking around the Normandy looking at stuff and thinking about all the people that made it. As a person with a background in design and now in commercial construction - another thing I’ve sort of developed is this weird sense of when something was loved by the people who created it. I’ve gotten like no progress in the story so far but I’m actually in awe walking around the ship looking at stuff because I feel like it was intensely loved by the people who designed it. There are no ‘shortcuts’ here. Like there are parts of the ship that the player will realistically never spend a lot of time looking at, which is why I’ve posted all of this under a screenshot of a god damn hallway. Oh my god I have a lot more to say than I thought I did send help

There’s a transition occurring here between the captain’s cabin and the elevator. Try to think about this from the perspective of a builder who made the ship. We have an oblong weird shaped object, and they need to fit liveable spaces inside it. On cruise ships, a lot of these spaces are prefabricated off site and "dropped in" to the ship as it comes together. That's what the captain's cabin looks like to me - a modular, prefabbed unit that was stacked on top of probably other prefabbed units to complete the interior of the ship.

But again, the ship's hull has a weird shape - and this is what I mean by 'there are no shortcuts here.' The game developers made this fictional spaceship and actually (and I'm speculating here) took the time to think 'what is the relationship of the hull to the modular units inside it.' They could have just designed a digital interior with no regard for the volume that interior occupied - but they didn't. They could have just put up blank walls in all the places they didn't want to spend the time fleshing out, but they didn't. They designed the interior to fit inside the ship they wanted to make, with a staggering amount of detail to boot. It reminds me of how in the Lord of the Rings movies, the costume creators spent time adding embellishments that the audience would never see, like horse heads on some of the scale maille the Riders of Rohan wore. Those embellishments were covered up entirely by other costume parts - but the costume workers fucking loved what they were doing, and they took the time to do it, because it made them feel fulfilled.

If I'm being really picky I'll say it doesn't make sense to separate the captain's cabin from the elevator because what we're looking at in this screenshot is the 'dead space' of the ship, the odd areas that couldn't be made into useful space (but if you look closely, there are a lot of these 'dead spaces' that have been made into shelves and stuff - goddamn they really wanted to do this shit right). Realistically these probably shouldn't be oxygenated and pressurized, but I'll look past it because I think the developers went above and beyond job actually thinking about how the ship works and then taking the time, spending the money on the manpower to make it real. But what if the captain's cabin is a fully self sustaining unit and that's why it's separated :O fuck me i love this game

People made this game. Every table and chair and pipe and panel and door, the most basic shit people don’t even think about, had to be made and optimized for a deadline to make this game happen. I like to think, based on the level of detail, that they loved what they were working on. And I just can't say enough words about how much I love that.

#MELE #i can't stop myself #i really have no self control

[cllynchauthor]

On Aspie Supremacy and the Aspergian

CW: bullying, suicide, aspie supremacy

I feel the need to talk to you guys about what has been happening on autistic twitter lately surrounding the autistic website The Aspergian. I write for The Aspergian. Here are some of my articles:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/05/04/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/04/19/person-first/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/04/05/7-cool-aspects-of-autistic-culture/

While I am white, cishet, and speaking, I am in the minority at The Aspergian.

The majority of contributors are mostly either LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, or high support needs.

Here are some of their contributions:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/10/10/stopping-the-stigma-against-people-with-disabilities-interview-with-sbsk/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/09/09/10-signs-i-was-transgender-but-didnt-know-it/

https://theaspergian.com/2019/08/08/the-cage/

Despite this, the name The Aspergian makes many autistic people uncomfortable. Several ASAN members have spoken out condemning the name.

In these days of #AltAutism, the autistic dark web and other aspie supremacists have turned the word Aspergers into a borderline slur.

Aspergers and “Aspergian” are becoming dog whistles for function labels, white supremacy and incels.

The founder of The Aspergian knows that. That’s why she named it The Aspergian.

With every pro-RPM, pro-Neurodiversity, feminist, intersectional article The Aspergian publishes, it gets left wing values all over Aspergers. If you google Aspergian now, all you will find are social justice articles.

And the AltAutism folks HATE IT.

But so do a lot of autistic advocates, for whom “Aspergers” conjures up a lot of trauma.

The founder has trauma from it too, though.

https://twitter.com/theaspergiancom/status/1185068296636375040?s=21

Image Description: screencap of a tweet from @TheAspergianCom reading

When I first told my closest living friend about being autistic, it was the first person I'd told other than my husband. This was her response:

Below is a screencap of a text conversation. The friend is talking about her autistic son saying “at this point I’ll be fucking happy if he ever calls me mom and stops trying to attack me.” Then she says “I think your autism is fucking bullshit.”

Image description: screencaps of more tweets reading:

Though she knew I was going to be tested, she'd continued to use the word Asperger's. I'd been helping her through the process of understanding her son and autism. I loved her deeply. I still do. But she blocked me on social media and told everyone before I was ready to come out.

So instantly all my social media was flooded with all these speculative and veiled comments I could only see portions of, and I was humiliated. I was a new mother struggling and lost my support system. She thought it was sinister I used the same label as her son. Minimizing.

Autism was my diagnosis. She didn't know that I was made to believe I was possessed by demons in my youth or all the hell I'd endured and all the struggles I had like being the last person in my school who learned to read six years late. She knew an articulate adult.

Image description: the next person I told, things went even worse. She outed me in local Facebook groups where I was the admin and parent groups. I had postpartum anxiety and severe breastfeeding aversion but my child wouldn't eat food. So it was BF constantly or a feeding tube. And no meds for me.

So I thought maybe the problem was me saying autism instead of Asperger's. My husband was aspie and always identified that way. I'd been a teacher with largely autistic classes for years. Those with that diagnosis were often intellectually disabled.

Image description: My best friend and one of my oldest and closest friends, both autistic, had committed suicide, and the two living best friends I had blew up my whole social circle. I was afraid to seek help, afraid to go in public, and brutally reframing my whole life and reliving traumas.

I needed help. I joined about 20-30 autistic groups and made the mistake of saying that I was aspie. I didn't want to be insulting and have another incident like what happened the first time I told someone. It didn't go well. I had no idea of the stigma at the time.

And I had no idea why I was being called a supremacist, shiny, a Nazi, ableist, etc. I argued against those claims because I'm definitely not those things. I thought I'd entered a den of extremists. I got booted. Then another group I entered started with, "Oh, there's the Nazi."

In that tweet thread, Terra goes on to say that it occurred to her that her best friend who had recently committed suicide might have sought out the autistic community before he died. And she went to look and found that he had posted and been dogpiled in the same manner. The day before he died.

Terra Vance is desperately anti supremacy. But she is also desperately anti bullying. And she felt that if people couldn’t say “I’m autistic” without losing loved ones and “I’m aspie” without being called a supremacist, then autistic people were being put in a very tight corner.

Especially since Aspergers is still an extant diagnosis pretty much everywhere but North America so people are getting shunned from the autistic community because of their DIAGNOSIS.

That’s why she named it The Aspergian.

And you know what?

The aspie supremacists HATE IT.

They hate that their dog whistle is now a popular and booming hub of Neurodiversity, anti-ABA, and intersectionality.

They hate that The Aspergian is republishing deleted Wikipedia articles of autistic nonspeakers, which the autistic dark web worked hard to get removed.

They hate that we promote FC and RPM and other AAC. They hate that we keep claiming that autism and Aspergers are the same thing.

They don’t want to share space with nonspeakers and black women. They’re a bunch of altright white incels and The Aspergian is getting autism and neurodiversity over their shiny high functioning boots.

Worst of all, we’re reaching PARENTS.

Our most popular articles are not aimed at fellow autistic people. They are aimed at NTs, parents, laymen, trying to educate them about autism.

My article on ABA went viral and made so many ABA therapists angry. It was beautiful.

Imagine description:

“And by some strange magic, we took off suddenly, going from like 100 views per month to over 100k, then 200k, then more and more. We heard a lot of stories that were not being heard. There are parents who read our site to learn about their children posthumously after suicide.

One mother told me that if she had found our site earlier, she would have known that her son's "aspie" diagnosis meant that he was fully autistic. She is filled with regrets. We hear from lots of people who had no idea that they were supposed to have these autistic struggles.

We hear from people in lots of non-white majority countries where autism acceptance and awareness is years/decades behind what a difference our site has made because they had no idea. They weren't reading other blogs and now they are. Now they are understanding autism.”

Understanding autism from a neurodivergent, autism-acceptance, Autism-Speaks-Is-Bad, anti-ABA, pro-AAC website.

The ADW HATE that.

So what do they do?

They stir up shit about the name. The autistic dark web have a bunch of sock accounts which they use to deliberately stir up shit among the #ActuallyAutistic tag on twitter so they can screenshot stuff and repost it out of context to further discredit autistic people.

So they know the ND crowd resent Aspergers. So they deliberately stir up crap about The Aspergian’s name and everybody eats it up.

They also spread lies like that we are racist and don’t have any contributors of colour (they block the BIPOC contributors who argue against this lie).

Image Descriotion:

Tweet from Riah Person (a black autistic advocate) saying

“The .@theAspergianCom has writers

• with I/DD

• that are nonspeaking

• with research background

• that are deaf

• that are blind

• with physically limiting disabilities

• that are autistic BIPOC

• that are autistic LGBTQ+

• with no formal writing skills

The list goes on”

They claim that we plagiarize. But in fact each contributor owns their own content and is free to publish in other places and often they do.

But mostly they bitch about the name.

And I get it. I do. Aspergers brings up a lot of bad feelings and associations, especially since the anti-ND movement started pushing the “Asperger was a Nazi” stuff in order to discredit Steve Silberman’s book Neurotribes.

But we can’t make Asperger’s a slur. It’s still an existing diagnosis all around the world. Happily it IS being removed from the ICD 11 in 2022 but it’s going to take decades to change the assumptions around that word.

Terra wants “Aspergers” to become synonymous with autism. No difference. No barriers. No judgements. Not because she loves or even identifies with Aspergers. Her diagnosis is autistic and she calls herself autistic. But she doesn’t think autistic people should be bullied over a label. It smacks of exclusionism.

The founder of The Aspergian feels that no autistic person should be bullied to the point of death or near-death because of their diagnosis, or because they have been trained to say they have Aspergers so NTs won’t pull the whole “you don’t look autistic” crap.

The autistic community, of ALL communities, should be the most understanding of misunderstanding. We should be the most able to understand that people don’t always mean what it sounds like they mean.

“Aspergers” is not a slur. It is not a supremacist term. At worst it is an outdated functioning label. At best it is a synonym for autism.

And it won’t become a dog whistle. Because The Aspergian won’t allow it.

#actuallyautistic #autism #suicide #bullying #advocacy #aspie #aspergers

[backlogbook]

Quick Look: Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory

The announcement of Sora joining the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was a fine pick for the final character, but as someone with very little knowledge on Kingdom Hearts, it also did very little for me. What the showcase *did* do, however, was remind me that there was a KH themed rhythm game called Memory of Memory that I was planning to pick up. I am a pretty big fan of the music by Yoko Shimomura, specifically her work on the Mario & Luigi games and Final Fantasy XV. When I heard that Kingdom Hearts music was basically both of those combined, I realized it was quite the untapped goldmine for me. After the Smash showcase I found the game on sale and bought it, and now that I'm playing it almost a year after its initial release, I found something unexpected.

This is Theatrhythm.

For those who don't know, the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy games are a duo of Nintendo 3DS rhythm games where you make a party of beloved characters from the Final Fantasy series and have them perform attacks on enemies by tapping, holding and sliding encroaching music notes. What sets Theatrhythm apart from almost every other rhythm game is RPG elements; you level up your characters so they can take more hits (you can mess up more notes before losing the song) or strengthen them so they can defeat more enemies, earning you more rewards. Where most rhythm games are content to just hand you their entire music library and tell you to work towards beating your own high score, Theatrhythm has a ton of unlockables to work towards.

This is also true in Melody of Memory. There is a story mode where you can go through songs and complete missions to unlock artwork and new playable parties, and you can level these parties up so you have an easier time making it through songs. Compared to Final Fantasy there are a lot less playable characters, you can't mix-and-match them, and from what I can tell they only differ visually. The progression elements are still here, but not nearly as deep as the Final Fantasy counterparts.

Also unlike the 3DS games, MoM has gameplay where the camera is behind the characters' back, as they run along a path where they smack enemies to the beat of a song. For 95% of the game this works pretty much just as well as the more classic Guitar Hero-like overview of the Final Fantasy games, but occasionally I got blindsided because an enemy was hidden from view by my own characters, larger enemies, or even the road we're running across twisting and turning awkwardly. It happened just enough that it was starting to annoy me. Nothing that can't be circumvented by replaying the song and learning enemy placement (as is where the longevity of rhythm games typically comes from), but I couldn't help but think, "how was I supposed to know that was coming?"

The music was a highlight, at least. I can count the amount of songs I didn't care for on one hand, and almost all of those are stuffy old Disney songs. There's some phenomenal stuff in here, my personal highlights being Fragments of Sorrow, Vector to the Heavens, Rowdy Rumble, and The Promised Beginning. I'll definitely be checking out these soundtracks in full in the future!

I'd recommend this game, especially if you like rhythm games or the music that Shimomura is known for. It has a couple of issues that make this not as good as the Final Fantasy entries, but I still had a great time going through the main campaign, and while writing this I'm already having the urge to boot up my Switch and continue unlocking more screenshots of a series I've never played.

#backlog #kingdom hearts